Indianapolis, Indiana:
Indianapolis Fire Department
Monday October 10, 2022
Working Rope Rescue
211 N Pennsylvania St
Dispatched at 10:04 PM
9 IFD Units Dispatched – including IFD Rope Rescue Tac Team 7
Initial 911 call reported window glaziers stuck on exterior scaffold outside the Regions Tower
First Unit on Scene EG13 at 10:08 PM
Confirmed Entrapment x 3 – marked working at 10:16 PM
The workers were secure and unharmed – the biggest threat was the potential for the window to fall unexpectedly
IFD requests IMPD shut down traffic along Ohio St and Pennsylvania St. – including the sidewalk – due to potential of falling glass
Tactical 7 establishes rope system on the roof area (36th floor) – the workers are stuck at the 19th floor
Workers stated that their day began at 7 AM – The building makes needed repairs to windows once a year – usually in October
They had been working on this particular window since 7:30 PM. The steel cable used to raise and lower the 300 lb window – slipped off the pulley at 8:00 PM
The crew spent about 2 hours trying to fix the cable and pulley before calling IFD
IFD established a high angle rope system to help the workers secure the window so they could lower it and the scaffold to the 5th floor deck
Utilizing a main and belay system – Tactical 7 was able to raise the 300 lb window enough, to release the tension on the cable and place it back over the pulley at 11:54 PM
Lowering began at 11:57 PM
Scaffold and window safely on the 5th floor deck at 00:12 AM
Workers – Kevin (52), Steve (47) and Mario (52) were checked on scene by IEMS and released OK.
Operation complete at 00:16
Incident Commander – Joseph Moellman
No injuries
The three men have been in the window glazing business for years and are contracted to work by their union.
Regions Tower building management was on scene.
Credit: Rita L Reith, MPIO
